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A Magazine for Sheffield

Gordian

As the wave of dubstep finally broke, very few of its original exponents remained as firmly dedicated to the genre as they once were. Some moved towards 2-step, others towards dub, while others went further into the LFO-driven wobbles for which the genre is now best recognised. Others still, seeking the minimalism the style engendered before its commercial heyday, moved towards techno.

Cosmin TRG (formerly TRG) is one of the many producers who has exchanged his shuffled kicks and tweaked baselines for four-to-the-floor kicks and offbeat hats. His latest offering, Gordian, comes to us courtesy of the celestial 50Weapons imprint this month and one would be hard pressed to spot without prior knowledge that this Romanian ever dabbled in dubstep at all, such is the depth and quality of the techno he is now producing.

Musically, this is perhaps not worthy of the term 'innovation' so much as 'evolution'. While the basic rhythms on this record have been gracing speaker boxes of all shapes and sizes for decades now, Cosmin adds his own flair with a multitude of found sounds and organic percussion to detail his rhythms. He manages to engage without compromising the sparse, futuristic textures of his music. Warmth comes from a variety of pads, samples and synths, which despite largely being imitations from Chicago house and Detroit techno, have a twist of dub, with delays and reverbs giving them width and presence. The basses are hollow and poppy and fit perfectly.

TRG's sound is perhaps typified by the stunning 'Divided by Design', where the bass is secondary to swirling percussion and synths, and the driving low end of 'Noise Code', my personal favourite on this record. Tunes like the penultimate 'Vertigo' take the music more towards the dancefloor, with ricocheting snare patterns and harder kick drums, but never fail to deliver across the spectrum, with intriguing melodies throughout.

One of the qualities of really good dance music is that it is not limited to nightclubs and festivals, fuelling droves of party goers onwards in their nights of revelry. While a few of these tracks will no doubt already be in the record bags of many top DJs, there is material for the home listener here too. Gordian has left me unsurprised that Cosmin TRG is currently in such high demand to showcase his music in some of the best clubs and on some of the world's finest imprints.